Question : Employment amongst Degree Holders

(a) whether the Government is aware that a large number of youngsters having graduate, postgraduate and technical degrees are unemployed and looking for work/jobs and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the rate of unemployed youth in the country in comparison to other developing countries has increased in the past few years; and

(c) if so, the facts and details thereof and the details of the strategies being adopted/proposed to be adopted by the Government to ensure employment to educated youth across the country?

MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

(a): As per the results of available labour force survey on Employment-Unemployment conducted by Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, estimated unemployment rate for persons (aged 18-29 years) those who are graduate & above on usual principal status approach were 18.4% in 2015-16 in the country.

(b) & (c): As per the modelled estimates of International Labour Organisation (ILO), the unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-24 years) in developing countries are given below:

Unemployment Rate for Youth (in %)
Country/Year 2015 2016 2017
Bangladesh 10.7 11.1 11.4
Bhutan 10.0 10.1 10.2
China 10.8 10.9 10.8
India 10.4 10.5 10.5
Indonesia 16.7 14.9 15.2
Iraq 16.4 16.2 16.8
Kenya 26.2 26.3 26.2
Malaysia 10.8 10.7 10.9
Maldives 13.1 13.5 13.8
Mexico 8.6 7.7 6.8
Myanmar 1.6 1.6 1.7
Nepal 5.1 5.0 4.3
Pakistan 6.8 7.3 7.7
South Africa 50.1 53.4 53.5
Sri Lanka 20.6 22.1 20.7
Thailand 3.2 5.1 5.9

Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the Government. Government has taken various steps for generating employment in the country like encouraging private sector of economy, fast-tracking various projects involving substantial investment and increasing public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Deendyal Antodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM).

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana(PMRPY) has been launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment for incentivising employers for promoting employment generation. Under this scheme, Government is paying entire employer’s contribution (12% or as admissible) towards EPF and EPS for all eligible new employees for all sectors for 3 years.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has been initiated by Government for facilitating self-employment. Under PMMY collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh, are extended to small/micro business enterprises and for individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities.

Government has implemented the National Career Service (NCS) Project which comprises a digital portal that provides a nation-wide online platform for the job seekers and employers for job-matching in a dynamic, efficient and responsive manner and has a repository of career content.
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